Tom Coronel has a weekend to forget in Shanghai
Tom Coronel was looking to make amends in this weekend’s WTCC round in Shanghai, after a disappointing event in Motegi two weeks ago. After a good qualifying session, the Dutchman saw how a first corner incident put a premature finish to any hopes of a result.
Coronel had got the best out of his Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 to be ninth in this morning’s qualifying session, and second best among the Yokohama Trophy drivers. The result also gave him a front row spot for the Race 2 grid, and the ROAL Motorsport driver fancied his chances of an overall podium and an important amount of points.
The Dutchman made a good start, managing to climb some positions and avoiding Ma Qing Hua, stuck on the grid. As the number 4 Chevrolet negotiated the first corner though, he found John Filippi’s spinning Cruze. Unable to avoid the Frenchman and to take another route, Coronel slammed the brakes, being hit by Mehdi Bennani. The result was a heavily damaged car, unable to be repaired to participate any further during the weekend.
Tom Coronel was fuming at yet another opportunity for a good result gone: “This is really, really annoying. It all looked so good. By making the right changes to the car, we were on the pace, everything was all right, we had the speed and qualifying went very well. I didn’t make any mistakes and I completed some really good laps. We were in control of all the elements. Thus, I was ninth on the grid for race one and after a rocket start, I was already up in fifth or sixth place. Filippi and Tarquini tangled in the first corner and I had to brake hard, so that Bennani ran into the back of my car and hit Filippi’s car, that was rolling backwards. In the process, the right rear wheel was damaged and ended up underneath the car. When I had got out of the car, I saw that it had even torn a hole in the chassis. I knew right away that this couldn’t be repaired quickly, and that my second place on the grid for the second race was gone up in smoke as a result.”
To make matters worse, the recovery process of Coronel’s car only made the damage bigger: “What happened afterwards when the car was towed away really was the limit. That only made the damage even bigger! What an amateurish move! Nevertheless, once the car was back in the pits, we had a close look at the damage and we are certain that the car could be ready again for the races in Thailand. So, let’s forget about this weekend and focus on the races in Thailand. When the car is as good there as it was here, it should be possible to finish well up the order.”
Next event in the 2015 WTCC season is the race of Thailand, from the 30th of October to the 1st of November.
